Books aren't worth risking your life
by MelimeGreenleaf
Summary: By trying to save a book in an unknown language, Daniel ends up stuck with Jack in an ice cave without his supplies. With no chance to escape, they need to stay alive until rescue comes. Daniel/Jack Pre-Slash


Of course Daniel would risk his life for a book. A book he couldn't even read, Jack felt the need to add, but that supposedly contained secrets of the universe. Or maybe a cake recipe, since Daniel confessed that he had no idea what was written in it. The whole situation had an air of déjà vu, perhaps because they were in a similar situation years ago. Now, they were separated from Carter and Teal'c, Daniel had lost his backpack and they were trapped in a series of tunnels that cut a frozen mountain. The situation couldn't be worse, which obviously meant that it would worsen, as it did in the form of a temperature drop of more than forty degrees Celsius.

"Daniel, we'll freeze in here."

"I'm sure Sam and Teal'c will find us before then. At this point they must have gotten reinforcements."

"And this little scenario of yours that into consideration the fact that we just slide by at least a couple of miles in a maze of secret tunnels?"

"Okay, maybe they'll take a while. But it's not like they're leaving us here to die. Not to mention that we have equipment to handle this type of situation. Thermal blankets, sleeping bags, those mini stoves, things that we can burn. There has to be a reason for us to walk with so many pounds of equipment."

"And where would all of this be, Daniel? In your backpack?"

Daniel froze, realization illuminating his face as he groped his back and couldn't find his backpack. "O oh."

'O oh' again. Jack hated when he said that. It was go-to phrase for when they were completely screwed, his sentence of choice for when someone was about to die, a planet was going to explode, they were stranded in hostile territory, or the stargate malfunctioned. When all hell broke loose, all that Daniel could say was 'o oh'. It was absolutely infuriating. Jack wanted to punch him. In the mouth. With his mouth. He had fallen in love with an idiot, which he wouldn't admit so early.

"Yeah, you dropped it on the floor when you were picking up the book. Then all that equipment you thinking? Cut them in half."

"Well, I'm sure you must have some training that can help us."

'_Now you trust me. Maybe if you had listened to me when I said not to touch the altar and not get the book?_' Jack complained to himself before answering aloud. "My training tells me that it would be great to make a fire." When he saw that Daniel hadn't understood, he continued. "With paper." And, as he had not yet understood, he added. "For example, a book of more than one hundred and ten pounds would burn for a reasonable time."

"Ahn no." He said tightening the book against his chest. It was a ridiculous scene, considering its size. How had he managed to hold something that was easily two-thirds of his weight and was bigger than his torso while slipping through the tunnel network was a mystery. Daniel had always been good in doing almost impossible things by sheer willpower.

"If you freeze to death who will not read this book you don't know anything about?"

"Jack, don't. This culture seems to have been more advanced than ours, and this book seems to contain the basis of their story."

"The key word here is 'seems'. You don't know, it can be a cookbook."

"In what culture would a cookbook would be covered in gold and have a place of honor on the altar of a temple like that?"

"In one that gives much importance to a good meal, which we won't have because we'll need to ration energy bars because a certain someone left all of his supplies behind."

"Jack..." Daniel activated his pleading puppy look. Jack wondered if he knew he did it or if it was an automatic defense. In any case, it seldom seemed to work.

"You can stop, we won't burn the book. Not because you're asking. There's no way of knowing how far we are from the outside or how well the air circulates inside. The last thing we want is a lot of carbon monoxide in a cubic area of 6 meters."

Jack was right, of course. The cave where they had stopped was so small they couldn't stand up, and barely allowed them to lie down. It would be too easy to flood the place with the carbon monoxide that burning the book would necessarily create.

"So what do we do?"

"Wait for rescue. There's no way we can climb the ice at that angle, just burn up valuable energy. With our supplies and melting own water, we can last for maybe three days."

"Do you think they'll find us in time?"

"I think that unless you have developed a way to climb a wall of slick ice at an angle of 70°, we have no choice but to wait. Trust on our team, we have managed to escape worst things."

Daniel was silent for several minutes. "What we'll do in the meantime?"

Jack pulled the sleeping bag and thermal blanket from the backpack, starting to get the first in the small space between them. "My suggestion is to sleep, as the temperature drops significantly at night."

Daniel feared for a moment that Jack would leave him with nothing but surely he wouldn't let him freeze to death. "Uhm, you'll get the sleeping bag or the blanket?" Daniel asked, as he gave no sign of splitting.

"Separating resource is not our best option."

Daniel froze. "You won't... Jack, you can't let me die just because I got the book!"

"Why not? That's what you were willing to do. For the second time, I may add." He said as he snuggled the thermal blanket inside the sleeping bag.

Daniel just blinked, unable to understand what was happening. "Jack! I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry that I picked up this book and that because of that we'll probably die. But I can't believe you will let me freeze because of it!"

"Daniel, will you come in anytime soon or you'll wait until freeze your ass?" He asked, slightly opening the sleeping bag. That confused Daniel.

"What?"

"You were the only one that talked about freezing to death, I just said that separating resources wasn't the best idea. We'll share."

That left Daniel even more confused. "It is for one person."

"Unless you really want to freeze, I suggest you forget all modesty that is going through your mind and come here."

Daniel considered his options, but the cold was enough to convince him. If he wasn't already red from the cold, he would have blushed when entered the sleeping bag. It was too small for the two of them, and Daniel felt his body being pressed tightly against Jack's as they closed the bag. He could hardly breathe, but warming his numb extremities was worth it. Finally straightened their backs to each other, and the comfort offered by the heat, sleep was quick in coming.

Daniel woke up with a possessive arm around his waist. Jack's head rested against his, his lips almost touching the back of Daniel's neck, and Jack's soft, rhythmic breathing against his neck caused chills throughout his body. It was a feeling he never thought he could have, and it hurt even more because he knew that didn't mean the same for him and Jack. That was why he had almost chosen to freeze, now he knew how it felt to be so close to Jack and he couldn't have it.

He tried to pull away before Jack woke up, but the limited space allowed him to move only a few millimeters, making the end result of the attempt him rubbing his body against Jack's. Ge felt a strong hand steadying his hips in place, it was then he recognized the pressure he was feeling.

"Uhm, Jack?"

"Don't flatter yourself, it's a morning thing. But moving around like you are doing isn't helping."

Without a word, Daniel began to open the sleeping bag, deciding he had already slept enough. And then the light was blocked.

Slowly, Sam appeared down the tunnel with climbing equipment. "Sir, Daniel. Are you okay?"

Crawling out of the sleeping bag, Daniel picked up the book again, pressing it against his chest.

"Other than a pain in the back, Carter, okay. And Daniel, I thought we had already agreed that the book would stay." He said as he put the sleeping bag in his backpack.

"Uhm no. We agreed that you wouldn't let me freeze to death, I'll take the book with me."

"Did anything that happened got into your head?"

"Of course, next time, I won't drop my backpack."

"Sir, we need to climb, Teal'c won't be able to hold me forever."

Thus they left, one by one, with Teal'c pulling them to the surface. And as they abandoned the cave, both tried to just as easily leave behind the memories for fear of having experienced something that they couldn't have.


End file.
